The Brothers Ramsey
by goblz
Summary: Series of vignettes following the evolving relationship between brothers Chris and Jack Ramsey. Rating for mild language.


**A/N: I have been meaning to write this for probably about a year. Actually that was when I wrote this first part. When time allows I will be writing more.**

**This takes place during Fate, after Jack shows the baseball card to Chris. During Fate, Eve and Ian were supposed dead, so when I mention Eve being dead, don't think I mixed it up with Secrets or afterwards, LOL. As always, R&R!  
**

**Martini**

"A martini," Chris Ramsey ordered to the bartender right as he took a seat at Jake's Bar. She nodded and turned to make him one. Glancing around, the doctor was glad that the bar wasn't as busy as normal. A group of twentysomething guys were playing pool and in the far back corner, a guy and a girl were making out, but no one else was around.

Chris thought back to the picture he'd seen earlier that evening. He used to carry it around in his wallet for years to ensure he didn't forget. He had taken it out after graduating from medical school, just before starting his job at General Hospital. He'd decided to let go; several years had passed since he saw his youngest brother. He had taken out the picture, but he hadn't thrown it away.

So how had this Jack gotten a hold of it? Chris had known Jack was trouble but had never dreamed anything like this would happen. So few people knew about Chris' youngest sibling. He had never even told Julie or Eve…

Another pang hit Chris' heart as he thought of his recently deceased best friend. Gratefully he took his martini from the bartender and threw a gulp back. It seemed everyone he ever loved left him, and the streak had started with his brother Jack.

Could this young man be the real Jack Ramsey? Did he really remember their outings to the park and the baseball card?

It has to be him, Chris realized, taking another swift gulp of his drink. Jack had the baseball card to prove it, and memories no one else knew about. That they had the same first name was no mere coincidence.

"Why now?" Chris wondered aloud. "After all I went through to put it behind me…"

Forgetting his younger brother had not been easy. As the eldest Ramsey child, Chris had always been the overseer, the protector of his four siblings. Jack especially needed it because he was so young. When Chris was twelve, he realized he needed to get Jack away from their father, so he took the seven year old to Social Services.

His dad had been furious with Chris for doing so, but the beating that had come of it had not been unexpected. What he had not thought about, however, was his mother. She hadn't been angry with Chris; she assured him again and again that she understood and that he had done the right thing. But the devastated look on her face had crushed him and kept him from taking his other siblings, not that his dad would have let Chris do that anyway.

His mother had been too sick to try and retrieve Jack; and besides, Chris turning Jack into Social Services had raised some questions. The other children didn't end up being taken away, but they never got Jack back.

So Chris threw himself into his schoolwork. He graduated from high school at the top of his class, deciding to be a doctor to help people. Truthfully, that was not the only reason. He didn't like being poor; he hated everything about the circumstances around his childhood, and he didn't want his adulthood to be like that. The money had been quite a huge draw, as well.

Chris' mom left his had when Chris got into medical school, after the fourth Ramsey child had graduated from high school. Chris moved to Port Charles to get away from his father, having heard nothing from his mother. There he'd become a doctor, keeping in touch with his siblings and finally not feeling the loss of his favorite one.

And now four years later Jack had come catapulting back into his life. "He just wants my money," Chris told himself bitterly "He's found out his big brother's loaded and decided to play me." Chris hastily drank more of his martini.

A pang of guilt hit Chris then; obviously Jack had no money. He probably hadn't had a good life. If so, then it was Chris' fault.

"No, no," Chris whispered, shaking his head.

"Rough night?" the bartender cut into his thoughts. "You keep talking to yourself, unless you have an imaginary friend?"

"Mind your own business," the doctor snapped. "And get me another one, would you?"

She gave him a dirty look and turned to make him another drink.

"I gave Jack to Social Services so he could have a better life," Chris told himself. "It's not my fault if they screwed up."

He found himself angry again, but something Jack had said stuck out in his mind.

"_It's not your fault Dad dumped me there…"_

He thinks Dad was the one who gave him up, Chris though. Well, he's not getting a dime from me, and he's not taking Livvie from me, either. And he's not going to find out that I was the one who turned him into Social Services. I'm not letting him disrupt my whole life.


End file.
